태국에의 옥수수 재배는 종자 가격의 상승, 잦은 기후변화, 때때로 부족한 종자로 인하여 종자구입을 주저하고 있는 실정인데, 종자의 자가소비 및 이웃농가 보급을 통하여 옥수수 종자구입 비용의 절감을 목적으로, 태국 농업청(Department of Agriculture, Thailand)과 한국 농촌진흥청(Rural DevelopmentAdministration, Republic of Korea)과의 협력으로 AFACI(Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative)의 태국 국별 과제로 옥수수 종자마을 조성(Maize Seed Village) 사업을 선정하여 추진하였다. 대상 품종은 태국 자체 육성종인 건조저항성 단교잡종 나콘사완3(Nakhon Sawan 3)로 교잡종 채종기술은 나콘사완전작물연구소가 운영한 채종농가 훈련을 거쳐 이전되었으며 이를 위하여 종자채종기술 교재 600부를 제작 활용하였다. 2010 여름, 2011 우기, 2011 여름 기간, 총 3작기에 걸쳐 5개주 52개 마을 175농가 96 ha에서 종자 79,988kg을 생산하여 자가 소비 및 이웃 농가 보급에 활용하였다. 생산된 종자의 판매가격은 일반 상업화 종자 가격의 46~60%수준이었으며, 농가는 나콘사완 3 교잡 종자에 대한 채종재배기술과 품종의 성능에 크게 만족하였다.

We report the development of new anthocyanin-rich grain corn hybrid variety ‘Saekso 2’. The seed parent, HA3 and the pollen parent, HA4 was developed from breeding materials collected from China in 2008 and from Canada in 2000, respectively. The hybrid was made in the winter of 2010/2011 and evaluated in Hongcheon for 3 years. After evaluation, the selected variety was named ‘Saekso 2’ and was approved for a variety registration in 2017. Anthocyanin content of Saekso 2 in grain was 685 mg/100g and was much higher than that of Saeko 1(0mg/100g). Since regional tests was conducted in only Gangwon province, it is recommended only in that region for commercial cultivation. For the highest content of anthocyanin, it is best to harvest grains at around 45 days after silking. Saekso 2 is the first hybrid bred specifically for processing for high anthocyanin production.

This study was carried out to create new popcorn variety. ‘G-Popcorn’ was made by single crossing with two inbred lines, the seed parent, GP3, and the pollen parent, GP4. The hybrid was made in 2009 and selected in 2014 after investigating characteristics for three years from 2012 to 2014. ‘G-Popcorn’ was evaluated on 2 or 3 places in Gangwon-do for three years. ‘G-Popcorn’ showed higher lodging tolerance and popping volume in contrast to the check variety ‘Oryunpopcorn’. The plant height is 213cm indicating 5cm lower than that of ‘Oryunpopcorn’. Also, ration ear height of plant height of ‘G-Popcorn’ is 59%. The weight of 100 seeds was 15.5g, similar to that of ‘Oryunpopcorn’. The popping volume of ‘G-Popcorn’ was about 28.3㎤/g, higher than 25.0㎤/g of ‘Oryunpopcorn’. The yield of ‘G-Popcorn’ was 467kg/10a in regional yield trials for three years, which was 7% higher than that of ‘Oryunpopcorn’.

This study was carried out to create new waxy corn variety using anthocyanins germplasm including 13 ornamental maize stocks, purple corn and two parental lines of Mibaek2. First, we made anthocyanin husk population for sustainable breeding from 13 ornamental stocks for 6 years from 2001 and then crossed purple corn with a dark purple kernel in 2007. We crossed this hybrid with two parental lines of Mibaek2, a good edible quality waxy corn, in 2007/2008 dry season nursery for additional breeding in Thailand. The anthocyanin-rich waxy lines derived from these hybrids were self-fertilized seven times and made single cross hybrids until 2011. These hybrids were evaluated on 2 or 3 places in Gangwon-do for next two years. One selected elite hybrid was named Cheongchunchal and applied for registration of new waxy corn variety in March 2014. Total anthocyanins content is zero in Mibaek2, 737 in Miheugchal, 18,809 mg/kg in Cheongchunchal. This variety is meaningful as health food and high-value industrial material.

With the economy development, people have an increasing demand for meat and eggs. Hence the market demand for cereal crop keeps increasing. maize is the major crop to meet the conditions of market demand. As a part of the Golden Seed Project, we are planning to develop maize varieties for adaptation in Southern Asia, especially in India. This project was started at 2013 and has been collaborated with Nongwoo Bio Co. Our project is based on overseas maize breeding in Bangalore, India. At first year, we tested 40 maize hybrids to investigate adaptability, yield capacity, and growing characteristics. Planting materials for this test were developed and selected in Cambodia by researchers of Maize Research Institute. Growing performance is usually quite different by the growing area and seasons, but some of our materials have shown good adaptability and yield at dry season in Southern India. 13IN07 was selected by yield and grain color, 13IN39 was selected by yield and plant type. These two selected hybrids were applied to regional test controled by Indian Council of Agricultural Research in India. We will see how our hybrids adapt in various regions in India, assess how other tested hybrids perform in those regions, and compare each other. We may also expect one of the selected hybrids can be a candidate variety for some regions in India and we will continuously select good hybrids and develop new varieties in India.

Maize breeding is mainly divided by two steps; line development and hybrid selection. Line development is very important procedure to make good hybrids and this line development in Korea is fully depend upon conventional methods like pedigree selection, back-cross, etc. For development of pure line, we have to do self-pollination for at least seven cycles. This line development system is tedious, labor-intensive, and time-consuming procedure. Doubled Haploid technology for maize is a new system to develop inbred lines within short period and many maize research institutes in foreign advanced countries have been actively using this technology. Using Doubled Haploid technology, we can greatly reduce the period of line development and strengthen maize research ability in Korea. Key requisite for Doubled Haploid breeding is possession of inducer lines which can produce haploid when source population is crossed with them. Maize Research Institute in Gangwon Province secures the right of using inducer lines and is trying to introduce Doubled Haploid breeding in Korea. Doubled Haploid breeding system is as follows; crossing between population and inducer, separation haploid seeds from F1 seeds, chromosome doubling, doubled plant management, self-pollination, seed multiplication, and assessment. We expect our breeding capacity will be progressed by introduction of Doubled Haploid technology. When this technology comes to combine with marker assisted selection, we can increase competitiveness against global institutes.

We are importing corn grains more than eight million tons every year, and self-sufficiency rate of corn is less than one percent. It is not easy to increase field corn production in Korea because of limited arable land. For this reason, many companies have been interesting overseas agriculture for corn production. But they don’t have enough suitable variety for the target area. Our objective is to develop field corn varieties for adaptation in Primorsky Krai which is the southeasternmost region of Russia. This project has been collaborated with Dr. Huk-Ha Lee in Seoul National Univ. and planted three times in Primorsky Krai since 2011. Planting materials for this project were developed in Maize Research Institute. 74 hybrids in 2011, 76 in 2012, and 80 in 2013 were planted for regional performance test. Primorsky Krai is a colder area and has less frost-free days than Korea. Several hybrids have shown good performance, but lots of materials developed in Korea could not fully ripened in 2011 because of late planting and early frost. In 2012, we mainly selected early flowering materials as well as picked materials from first year. The silking date of our materials was later than local commercial varieties, but some our hybrids had good characteristics and high yield. Among them, we picked two hybrids and planted them in Ussuriysk in Primorsky Krai for field demonstration test. We expect some of the selected hybrids can be candidate varieties for improvement of corn production at overseas agricultural production base.

In order to produce the organic foods in accord with international standard, organic seeds should be used in organic farming. This study was conducted to establish the stable production of organic seed of waxy corn by examining the growing characteristics, seed yield, and the economy for seed production by organic farming. The optimal sowing timing for organic seed production of waxy corn hybrid was within 10 days of the 1st of May with yield of 88~90% of conventional seed production. The optimal planting density was 41,600 plants/ha (80×30 cm) for organic seed production of waxy corn. The weight of 100 seeds and seed productivity increased at the planting ratio of 2:1 mother plant:male plant. Growth and seed production were improved by removing male plant at 7~10 days after silking. Organic fertilizer (mixed oil cake) was applied at a rate of 4~6 Mg/ha before sowing. Black plastic mulching was used for weed control. In addition, sex pheromone trap and bio-control agents were used for safe pest control and low labour cost.